Inhalable pharmaceutically active substances are generally used for treatment of diseases in the bronchial and pulmonary area, such as asthma and chronic bronchitis. Various embodiments of inhalation devices or apparatus are used for the purpose. The function of these known devices depends on the creation of an airflow through the inhalation device caused by an inhalation by the patient. The airflow causes active substance to moved from a release position into the airflow in which it is dispersed. A specially advantageous inhaler of the above mentioned type is the dry-powder, breath-actuated multidose inhaler TURBUHALER.RTM., schematically described in the above mentioned EP-patents.
Some patients such as small children and elderly people with diseases in the bronchial area are not able to use a breath-actuated inhaler as it might be hard or even impossible for these patients to achieve the necessary inhalation flow and these patients are today reduced to the use of inhalers using pressurized gas, i.e. freon. Such inhalers suffer from many known disadvantages, such as unwanted side effects.
Furthermore, it is presently a problem to administer an Inhalable substance to an asthma patient who is anesthetized during an operation and the patient can not actively inhale. For many asthmatic patients the administration of asthma pharmaceuticals during an operation is vital.